Perceived relative income, fairness, and the role of government: Evidence from a randomized survey experiment in China

Previous studies have shown that Chinese citizens generally are optimistic about their economic opportunities and tolerant of the high levels of inequality in their society. This paper conducts a random survey experiment to examine whether the established views on fairness and inequality change after the respondents receive the general information on wealth concentration or the customized information on their household income ranking. We find that both types of information lead respondents to view society as less fair than they had initially believed. The information on the wealth concentration also increases public concern about social inequality. Nevertheless, neither information offered to the respondents make them think that government should play a more significant role in reducing inequality. This lack of demand for government intervention may be partially explained by a lower level of trust in the local government induced by the two information treatments.

Automated summary

This study finds that both general information on wealth concentration and customized information on household income ranking lead respondents to perceive society as less fair and increase concern about social inequality. However, neither information leads to a greater demand for government intervention in reducing inequality.